Release the Hounds
by mikkiemakkie
Summary: Finding themselves in the middle of a creepy mansion's grounds, Coulson and the team find themselves forced into the most bizzare game of Cat and Mouse... Rated T as some 'activities' may not be suitable for younger audiences. Based on the horror reality show 'Release the Hounds'
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'm getting a little frustrated with Interns, and I thought about writing this until I get my mojo back.**

**It's set AU where Ward is still with the original team and they are still on the bus. It's a standalone and is not linked to my Ward has secrets or Interns stories.**

**I am also sorry the first chapter is a little short, but it's just to set the scene.**

* * *

"Where the hell are we?" Ward asked as they entered a clearing in the woods.

"I don't know and I don't like it." May said, clearly uneasy.

"What are these?" Skye asked as she approached six tree stumps . Each of them had a small red backpack on it.

As a team they cautiously approached the bags and rummaged in them. Suddenly there was a crackle and a voice called out.

"Welcome to my game, Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D. You will each take a backpack and place it on your backs."

"Why?" Coulson shouted, throwing caution to the wind.

"You and your team are now entering my game. You will need your backpacks as they will carry vital equipment that you will need to leave the mansion compound."

"What game?" Skye asked.

"Ahhh. I'm glad you asked. You are about to enter 'Release the Hounds'. You will complete six tasks to retrieve a key in each. The faster you do this, the more time you will have."

"Have for what?" Fitz asked, face paling.

"Each key unlocks a box in the kennels. In this box there is a piece of the puzzle that you will need to get out of the mansion grounds. In order to keep these items you will need to outrun my pack of wild dogs."

"What?" Simmons asked, turning green. She knew she wasn't an athlete and could not outrun a dog.

"Please follow the white arrows and proceed to the first task. If you fail to comply I will release the hounds to gently persuade you. When you reach the destination you will find what you need to do. When the gong sounds, the gate will start moving closer to the dogs. I will be in touch."

They heard the crackle of the tannoy being turned off and turned to face each other.

"What do we do?" asked Ward

"I guess we play the game." Coulson replied, looking for the arrow they had to follow.

When they found it they set off towards their first task.


	2. Chapter 2

"I don't like this." Simmons whimpered as a dog howled. They had followed the arrows for around ten minutes through dense woodland.

They had stumbled over tree roots and had cut their faces on branches that snapped back into them. Fitz and Simmons were terrified of the upcoming challenges and were clinging to each other for dear life, Skye was staying quiet. She didn't want anyone to know just how scared she was. Coulson wished that that the 'gamemaster' hadn't taken their weapons, he was thinking it would help him with the dogs.

May and Ward were showing no outward signs that they were bothered by any of it, but in truth, their senses were heightened. Every sound made them twitch, every breath of wind made them shiver.

Ward pulled ahead of the group, pushing a branch out of his way.

"Ouch!" he heard Skye scream from behind him.

He turned to see blood pouring from her cheek. The branch he had pushed out of his way had snapped back and opened up a particularly nasty looking gash to her cheek. Routing through his pockets to see what he had been left with Ward found a tissue, pulled it out of his pocket, made sure it was clean and pressed it to Skye's cheek.

"You ok?" He asked her tenderly.

"Yeah. I'll be fine." She replied, pressing the tissue onto her cheek, allowing Ward to let go.

He could see she was shaking and decided to walk with her, hoping his presence would calm her nerves.

He saw May stop in front and look out over what appeared to be another clearing. One by one the team joined her, on what appeared to be a ledge.

A ledge that overlooked a river.

"Well I guess we have to go down to it then." Coulson said, trying to lighten the mood.

"I hate rock climbing and my hands are cold!" Skye complained.

"It's ok. There's a way down." Ward told her, pointing at the path that led down to two ropes spanning the river.

As there was only room for one on the path they scrambled down it in single file. May went first, followed by Ward, Skye, Simmons, Fitz and Coulson. Fitz and Simmons were still clinging to each other and were in danger of falling over. Skye, who was wearing, what could be deemed, the least sensible footwear for the situation they were in kept sliding and slipping on the loose chippings and was threatening to take Ward out. It got to a point where he took her hand and helped her climb down.

When they reached the bottom they congregated around the rope. One was clearly to hold onto and the other was to walk across.

"I think we should do this one at a time." Ward suggested, testing the rope with his weight.

Fitz looked at the water and shrunk back from it. He had hated water since he was a child.

May, noticing this placed her hand on his shoulder.

"You and me can go last." She told him reassuringly.

"I don't want to go." Fitz said.

"We'll go together." May suggested, realising he needed the moral support to cross the river.

Fitz watched as Ward crossed the rope to the other side. He also watched as Simmons set off, while Skye tried to warm her hands up enough to hold onto the rope.

The process of crossing went far too slowly for the teams liking. By the time Fitz had collapsed onto the banking the sun was just starting to set.

"Right. I guess we have hit the first challenge." Skye said.

"What makes you think that?" Simmons asked, hauling a still shaking Fitz to his feet.

"Oh... That!" Skye said pointing to a platform, cage and pulley wheel system floating out on the water.

Five heads turned to face it.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks to Belle97 for being the first to review!**

* * *

"How do we get to it?" asked Skye.

"We could try jumping?" Ward suggested, looking at the size of the gap that they would have to cross.

"Ok then. Show us how it's done Obi Wan." Skye told him sarcastically.

Ward chose a position that would land him bang smack in the middle of the platform. Resizing the gap he took several steps backwards.

"Five says he lands it. Clean." May said to the group.

"Nah. I think T-1000 is going to get rusty." Skye disagreed.

Ward gave them a pointed look before sprinting towards the bank of the river. He flew through the air towards the platform before he realised something he had not noticed from the side.

It was far too late to alter his trajectory.

He landed on the platform, except, what none of them had noticed, was that it was a giant air filled inflatable so the second Ward landed on it he was forced off it and into the water with an almighty splash.

"I'll have to spot you 'till we get out of here." May conceded, as Ward surfaced coughing and spluttering. He was stood up to his chest in water. He waded over to the platform and hauled himself up onto it.

"So how do we get across?" Fitz asked. Clearly he didn't want to repeat what he had just seen Ward do.

"I think we'll have to wade." Simmons said, inspecting the bank for any way to get across without getting wet.

"Hey! Someone catch this!" Ward shouted from the platform. He was holding a rope that was attached to a bridge that hadn't been there before.

May caught the end and fastened it to a nearby rock before walking out into the middle of it and jumping three times.

"It's safe. Fitz, why don't you come over first?" May suggested, holding her hand out. The rocket scientist was clearly pertified.

Fitz stumbled onto the rickety bridge and took May's hand. She guided him to the platform where Ward was wringing out his sopping shirt.

Soon Skye, Simmons and Coulson joined them and as Fitz-Simmons were inspecting the cage Skye was looking at Ward, still laughing that he had got his 'cogs' wet. She was also enjoying the fact he was shirtless and dripping wet through. She watched as his muscles as the rippled while he used them.

Just as he was about to put his shirt back on Skye noticed something on his shoulder.

"Ward! Don't move." She ordered.

Ward froze in a comical position with his shirt half over his head, while May, Fitz, Simmons and Coulson turned to see Skye approach him and pick something off his shoulder.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew!" Skye squealed as she picked the leech off Ward and threw it back into the river.

"Got it?" Ward asked. He wasn't bothered by leeches in the slightest, but he wanted to get his shirt back on so they could complete the 'game' and get out of there.

"Got it." Skye confirmed meaning Ward quickly finished putting his top back on.

"So what do we have?" He asked the rest of the team.

"Well we have a cage." Fitz said, pointing out the cage.

Ward noticed that it was big enough and looked strong enough to hold a small person.

"Which one of you girls is the lightest?" he asked as he ran his fingers over the cage to find the opening.

As one they all turned to look at Skye.

"No way. Nut Hu. Not a chance in hell!" Skye freaked.

The idea of being locked in a steel cage above a river was not a good one.

"I'll do it." May said.

"No. I will. We'll probably need you on the ground." Simmons interrupted.

"Simmons, you're too tall. I'll do it." Skye conceded, realising Simmons was right. May would probably be needed on the ground.

Her whole body shook as Ward and Coulson opened the cage and fastened her in. While they were doing that Fitz and Simmons were looking at the pulley system that the cage was connected to.

"You'll be ok." Ward almost whispered to Skye as he made one last change to the bolts.

"As long as you're holding the rope I'm sure I'll be fine." Skye whispered back, giving Ward a small smile. She knew what was coming and wanted the reassurance that she would not be dropped.

"Ok. So we have it. And one of us isn't going to like it." Fitz told them.


	4. Chapter 4

"What do we need to do?" May asked. She couldn't see what they were talking about.

"One of us is going to have to get wet." Fitz said as Skye groaned and Ward started playing with the hem of his t-shirt.

"What do I need to do?" Ward asked.

"Aren't you hauling the cage up?" Simmons asked, pretending not to notice the look of sheer horror on Skye's face.

"I was going to, but there's no point in anyone else getting wet through. Coulson and May will manage just fine." Ward pointed out, looking Skye straight in the eyes.

"At least if they drop me I'll land on you." She said with a smile.

"So what's the plan?" Coulson asked as he and May worked their way around to the rope and pulley system.

"Fitz and I use the wheels here to move Skye around in the cage. You and May will need to lower her as and when to reach all of those buckets, but the pulley system will only allow you to get to one bucket, so Skye will have to change over the 'D' links while Ward wraps the ropes onto the correct pulley."

"How will I know which one is correct?" Ward asked.

"They appear to be numbered." Simmons pointed out.

"And where are these pulley wheels that I'm connecting the rope to?" he asked, fearing that he both knew and didn't want to hear the answer.

"Naturally the sadistic idiot who is making us do this put them under the water!" Fitz told him, shuddering at the thought.

"Can we please get this done? This cage is totally not a good look for me" Skye asked, eager to be out of the cage.

"Skye's right. We're losing daylight." May reasoned, wrapping her hands around the rope.

Ward jumped back into the water and gasped. It had dropped from just being cold to being icy. Fitz stood next to the wheels that would direct Skye around the maze above them while Simmons got into a better position to direct him. Coulson stood behind May and took the length of rope she had left him. He wrapped his hands in it the same way May had.

"Heave on three." Coulson said.

"One" May breathed

"Two" Coulson said, the rope already burning into his hands.

"Three." May said.

When she said three, both May and Coulson pulled on the rope sending Skye's cage into mid air, earning a small scream from Skye. She clearly wasn't expecting it to be so fast.

"Ok Fitz, Left a little, forward a little. Stop! Back up a little. A little more." Simmons ordered Fitz as he spun the wheels to move Skye.

They continued in this way until Skye reached the first bucket.

"Alright Skye, you need to stick your hand in there and get whatever you find out." Simmons shouted up to her.

Skye reached into the bucket in front of her and quickly withdrew her hand.

"OH MY GOD!" she screamed.

"What?" Fitz, Simmons May and Coulson all asked together. Ward was so cold he couldn't utter a word.

"It's full of maggots!" Skye squealed in response.

"Just get it over with" Fitz instructed her.

Sticking her hand back in the bucket she felt around for the item she was looking for.

Ward tried to laugh as he was pretty sure he was the only one who heard her say:

"Get over it. I'd like to see you get over me throwing you in the river."

Suddenly Skye's hand brushed up against something cold and smooth. She closed her hand around it and pulled it out of the bucket. She tucked it into her pocket and made a move to hook herself onto the next pulley rig. Until she had done this she Ward wouldn't be able to change the rope.

Simmons guided Fitz and Skye to the next bucket where Skye put her hand in yet another bucket of maggots. AS she pulled her hand out there was a loud gong sound through the woods, making everyone jump and nearly causing May and Coulson to drop Skye.

Knowing that they were now on the clock Skye made to change the 'D' link as quickly as she could and Ward was ready and waiting to change the ropes over. The sun was setting lower and lower by the second so he was left no choice to do it by memory. The second he had fastened it he stuck his arm in the air to indicate to go, so Simmons guided them to the last bucket. Fitz managed to get Skye there as Ward made it to the platform. Simmons helped drag the shivering man from the river while Skye quickly inspected the items she held in her hand. It was three parts to a key.

"I have the key, but it's in pieces!" Skye yelled from the cage.

"how do we get her back?" Simmons asked. They clearly hadn't thought about it.

Ward looked at Coulson and May and jumped back in the water. As they lowered Skye to the water Ward arrived at the cage to let her out. To keep her as dry as possible, and the fact that the water would be up to Skye's forehead, Ward carried Skye back to the platform on his shoulders, meaning only her legs got wet. As they moved Skye managed to put the key back together.

"I've done it! I have the key!" She whooped as Coulson and May picked her off Ward before dragging him out of the water again.

The gong sounded again, followed by the crackle of the tannoy.

"Congratulations. You certainly have first rate logical minds. You have an 85 metre head start. Choose who will run against the dogs. Pick wisely because they will not be able to run again. You have thirty seconds."


	5. Chapter 5

"I think Ward or May should do it. They're the fastest." Fitz offered.

"I agree. They are our best chance of getting out of here." Simmons agreed.

May looked at Ward and shook her head, which he copied back to her. Clearly they both agreed it shouldn't be them.

"I think it should be our slowest runner." Skye said.

"Why? We need the pieces of whatever we need to get out of here." Simmons protested.

"I agree on that, but I have a feeling that the challenges are only going to get harder, which means the gate will get closer to the dogs as we progress." Skye pointed out.

"And?"

"And we can only run once. Once we have run we can't go again." Ward added to back Skye's point up.

"And if we sacrifice our fastest runners that means you or Fitz will be running against the dogs from maybe fifteen metres." May added.

Fitz and Simmons suddenly realised that they had a point and started discussing which of them is the faster runner.

They heard the crackle of the tannoy as it broke into life.

"Agents, your time is up. Please tell me who is going to run against the dogs first?"

"I am" Coulson said, surprising everyone. He had stayed quiet until that point.

"Excellent. You will follow the red arrows while the rest of the team follow the black ones."

They heard the crackle disappear. May rounded on Coulson.

"WHAT THE HELL?" she yelled.

"I am the slowest out of you all. I am older and not as fit. And I am also your leader, and to lead you must lead by example."

"Lead by example? Whatever happened to do as I say not as I do?" Skye asked. She was concerned for his safety.

A howling put an abrupt halt to their conversation and Coulson left to follow the red arrow that had been illuminated. The team then followed the black one that had also been illuminated.

Coulson followed the red arrows. He felt like he was walking to his execution, which he realised, he probably was. He stumbled more in the dying light, jumping more at the sounds of the woods now that he was alone. He swung his backpack round so that he could open it, get the object and get out of there quickly. It wasn't long before he could hear the dogs barking. Within minutes, the sun had set completely and he reached a row of kennels with six locked boxes outside of them.

He walked over to the box with a large number '1' drawn on it, put the key in the lock and turned.

The lock opened easily and the lid opened to find an object Coulson didn't recognise. He took the object out of the box and placed in his backpack. He slung it back onto his back and read the note attached to the top of the box.

'Congratulations. You have made it this far. Now go and take your position by the gate behind you. Be warned, the gate will open at the same time as the kennels. You will have to run to the wall and get over it to be classed as successful.'

Coulson swallowed, gathered his courage and headed out to the gate. He took a sprinters start position and allowed his eyes to get used to the darkness. He could just make out his target: A ten foot high wall, with a ladder to the left.

He heard the crackle of the tannoy and braced himself.

"Release the hounds."

* * *

May was leading the group following the black arrows. Fitz and Simmons were holding onto each other for moral support again and Skye and Ward were dragging up the rear. Skye was starting to shiver, while Ward was still dripping. They helped each other over the larger obstacles and laughed when Fitz slipped in a patch of mud and landed in a bush.

They suddenly heard the tannoy crackle.

"Release the hounds."

They all froze in place, Fitz still in the bush and waited with bated breath.

"We need to move." Skye said as she felt Ward's teeth chattering beside her.

May came out of her daze of wondering what happened to Coulson and hauled Fitz out of the bush.

Once it was clear that he was fine, just embarrassed slightly May set off walking. They got the next arrow and followed the direction it was pointing.


	6. Chapter 6

"Release the hounds"

Coulson set of from his sprinters start. His position made it very easy for him to duck under the painstakingly slow rising gate.

Coulson ran.

As he did he tried to block out the snarling and barking of the dogs chasing him. He willed his legs to run faster, but his standard issue suit was preventing him from doing so.

But, the hounds were gaining on him.

For every stride he took towards his goal the hounds took two strides towards him.

He was getting closer to the ladder. He was about five metres away when he felt the hot breath of the first dog on the back of his legs.

Throwing caution to the wind, Coulson leaped for the ladder and was surprised when his hands grasped a rung. He climbed it as fast as he could; only slowing when he was out of reach of the snapping jaws of the dogs.

Coulson clung to the ladder for dear life while he got his breath back and he stopped shaking.

Five minutes later Coulson climbed the rest of the way up the ladder. When he got to the top he swung a leg over the way and was surprised to find something relatively solid underneath his foot.

He realised it was a stack of hay bales forming steps to the top of the wall.

"Damn." Coulson exasperated as he realised he was trapped in a giant cage.

* * *

"Great, just what we needed right now. A huge creepy house!" Fitz pointed out sarcastically.

"It's just a house Fitz." May told him.

"With cobwebs and who know what else."

"It only looks scary because you're scared." Ward told him through his still chattering teeth.

"We should get this over with." Skye said. She agreed with Fitz. This house looked creepy.

As a group they approached the house and tried the door. It wouldn't move so May used her martial arts skills to try and kick it down. It wouldn't move.

May looked at Ward, who then tried to run at it and hit it with his shoulder. He felt it move a little, but the door didn't give.

Skye, Fitz and Simmons searched the area for a key while May and Ward tried various physical assaults on the door.

Finally the door opened revealing a small room, with one, solitary, bare lightbulb swinging around in the middle of it.

The team went into the room and the door slammed behind them.

"Ok. I'm with Fitz. This is really creeping me out." Skye said looking at the walls.

They were filthy and were covered in what Skye hoped was slime and red paint.

May and Ward approached the table to find a number of photographs. These photos were all different.

Fitz and Simmons were inspecting the room and pulled on a curtain. This curtain fell away from the ceiling to reveal the words 'a picture paints a thousand words' behind it. They looked at each other wondering what it would be that they had to do.

"Let's go." Ward said as he noticed an opening half hidden in the corner of the room.

He led the team through it and down a small, badly lit corridor, which then opened out into another room which had five chairs in a circle facing the walls. These chairs each had their own buzzer type button next to it.

"I think we need to sit" Simmons said, inspecting the chair nearest to her.

"I concur." Fitz agreed.

So each of them took a seat.

"now what?" asked May.

Skye reached forward and hit her buzzer, which caused sparks of electric to fly out of a generator and a mild shock through all of their chairs.

"OW!"

"What the hell?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"I'm going to kill whoever caused that."

"Sorry guys!" were the shouts and cries from the team.


	7. Chapter 7

"Aarrgghhh." Ward swallowed the pain as yet another electric shock passed through his body.

"You ok?" Skye asked. She was concerned. He was usually the one who felt the least pain, or at least showed it less.

"Yeah. I'm fine. But do I need to remind you all water and electricity don't mix?" Ward panted in response. He was still very wet from the river.

They had tried different combinations of the buzzer beaters including, one at a time, in pairs, in threes, fours and all together. None of the combinations had stopped the electricity from surging through their bodies. To top it all off, every time they hit the buzzers there were almighty sparks of electricity coming of the generator.

Fitz had even tried to get out of his chair, but they all received a sharper shock than they had previously received. They all understood this. It meant 'stay put'.

"Well let's think about this rationally." Simmons said.

"We _so_ don't have time." Skye pointed out in a rather higher pitched voice than usual.

"We have covered all combinations of buzzer and yet nothing has stopped it." Fitz said, ignoring Skye.

Ward sat listening to the two scientists before looking at Skye. He was worried about her. She was clearly getting more and more scared as they progressed, and now that they had stalled she was getting hysterical.

That's when he saw the picture behind her head. It looked like the buzzer next to their chairs.

Skye saw Ward check on her. In the dim light she could just about see the concern in his eyes before noticing his expression change as his gaze did.

Skye saw the picture and remembered the words in the previous room.

"Hey guys. Brace yourselves." Skye announced as she reached for her buzzer.

"SKYE!" May yelled.

"Enough. Can anyone see a picture on the walls?" Ward asked looking around to his front and sides.

"Over here!" Fitz yelled, staring at the picture on the wall.

"What does it look like?" Skye asked.

"It looks like one of the chairs. Can't tell which."

"Hold on to your hats." Ward advised before pressing his buzzer.

"Gahh!"

"Wow"

"Do we have to do this every time?"

"Who's got the next snap?"

"That would be me. It's showing some sort of connection."

May searched around her seat for the connection. She found it just underneath the buzzer.

"Found it." She announced, hitting the buzzer.

"I have the picture. It's a spanner." Simmons said happily as they were finally getting somewhere. Rather hesitantly though she pressed her buzzer, sending yet another shock through their bodies ad sparks flying.

"I have the picture. It's one of..." Ward said.

"One of what?" Skye asked. She was at the wrong angle to see.

"You." Ward said, looking at her.

"Me?" Skye asked, disbelievingly.

There was a crackle and they all heard the gong indicating that the gate was on the move.

"What does this mean?" May asked.

"I don't know. All we know is that pictures paint a thousand words." Skye said.

"Wait." Fitz ordered "Pictures paint a thousand words. What was the first picture?"

"The buzzer." Skye said.

"Then the seat." Fitz reminded everyone.

"connection." May prompted.

"Spanner."

"Skye." Ward finished.

"There's a spanner under Skye's chair that she can use to disconnect the buzzers from the power." Fitz told them.

Skye immediately searched under her seat for the supposed spanner. She felt it pulled it out.

"Where's this connection?" She asked.

"It's under on the underside of the platform that the buzzer is on." May told her.

Skye looked underneath her buzzer and found the connection May had told her about. Hesitantly she touched it with the spanner. When she realised it was safe she made to unbolt it. When it was loose enough she pulled the bolt out, which made the generator sound as if it had blown up.

Realising that their chairs hadn't shocked them they made to stand up and search for the key, but a loud clunking from the generator made them curious.

Fitz walked up to it and gave it a cursory inspection. As he did he noticed a piece of curled metal poking out of the generator.

Gingerly he touched it. When it didn't give him a shock he pulled at it.

"I have the key!" Fitz shouted.

"Congratulations yet again. You have made it through with relative ease. You have a 73 metre head start. Choose wisely. You have thirty seconds."


	8. Chapter 8

"Ward. It should be Ward." Skye said.

She was very concerned. He hadn't stopped shivering since he had got out of the river, he was electrocuted worse because of it and he was now shaking as his every nerve felt as though it had been activated.

"I'm fine. I think it should be Fitz." Ward said.

"Why me?" Fitz asked.

"I was going to say Simmons." May interjected.

"Fitz. We know we have to build a device when we have all outrun the dogs. We don't know if we have a time limit. If Fitz goes next he can be putting the pieces together as he gets them." Ward reasoned.

"How are you still coherent? That made far too much sense." Skye said as the crackle of the tannoy halted their debate.

"Have you chosen?"

"Ward's right." May said as four pairs of eyes turned to face Fitz.

"I'll run." Fitz replied. As much as he didn't want to outrun a pack of wild dogs, the alternative was to stay in here and out run them later.

"Excellent. You will follow the red arrows. The rest of you will follow the black ones."

"Good luck Fitz." Simmons said, kissing him on the cheek.

He smiled at the others and headed out towards the red arrow alone.

Once they could no longer see Fitz they set off following the black lit arrows.

"There was more to your decision than needing to put together that 0-8-4 wasn't there?" May asked Ward as they stumbled further into the woods.

"Always."

They heard a scream in the distance.

* * *

Fitz slowly followed the arrows. He wanted to take his time to calm his nerves and formulate a plan. He tripped on a tree root and fell to his knees.

He fought his way through the low hanging branches of the tree and to his feet. Having formulated a plan he quickened his pace.

Going over and over this plan Fitz nearly walked into the next arrow. He turned the corner.

"AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" he screamed as a drooling, snarling dog came at him. Fitz took several steps backwards, thankful that the dog had been tied up.

Before long he made it to the kennels, where more barking dogs were trying to get out of their kennels to get to him. Fitz approached the box numbered '2' and inserted the key. The lock opened easily and Fitz removed the small object from the box and placed it in his backpack.

Taking a deep breath he turned to face the gate.

"I'm going to die!" He thought to himself as he shakily walked over to it.

Looking up he saw something that made him ever hopeful.

Coulson was looking over the wall at him and was pointing to his only escape route.

The ladder.

* * *

Coulson had been pacing around the cage for ages when he heard the scream. Immediately he knew it was Fitz as it was a male voice and Ward would never scream like that.

Leaving his backpack at the bottom of the hay bale stairs (it wouldn't do to drop it!) he made his way to the top of the wall by the ladder. As he nearly missed it he was sure Fitz definitely would.

He watched Fitz walk shakily to the gate and look up.

Coulson waved at him and pointed to the ladder.

Fitz nodded his understanding and took a stance where he could set off quickly.

"Release the hounds"

The gate rose and Fitz started running.

"Keep going Fitz!" Coulson shouted at him.

Fitz risked a glance behind him and let out a whimper.

"Come one Fitz, you're nearly there!" Coulson encouraged.

Coulson could tell Fitz was starting to panic, but he was so close now. Coulson reached his arm down for Fitz to grab onto, which he did.

Fitz managed to get his feet onto the ladder, but he wasn't quick enough to climb it and a dog jumped up, gripping Fitz's foot in its mouth. Fitz wiggled his foot out of his shoe and allowed the dog to fall back to the ground.

Coulson helped him climb the ladder and pulled him over the wall to safety.

"That was my favourite pair of shoes! Fitz complained.

* * *

**A/N: I am just giving you fair warning... more maggots will appear in the next chapter (or two)... just for those with a slightly more sensitive disposition (Biichi-Gi- I'm looking at you!)**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Another warning to the maggot haters... there is an appearance! It also has body parts... So if you are squeamish please don't read!**

* * *

May, Simmons, Skye and Ward trudged their way through the woods guided by the lit arrows, only pausing once to detangle Skye from a bush that had snagged in her clothes.

"Do you think he made it?" Simmons asked, concerned, breaking the silence

"I think he will have given it the best that he could." May reassured her.

"That's a no then." Skye pointed out, realising May answered the question without actually answering it.

"I don't think we should focus on the dogs. I think we should focus on these bloody sheets we are about to walk into." Ward said, refocusing their attention to the task in hand.

The sheets were hung on what appeared to be multiple washing lines and were covered in what looked like real blood. There was a large arrow indicating that they had to make their way through them.

"It's some sort of maze" May said as she and Ward led the other two through the sheets.

After navigating around the sheets to avoid going through them they came to a clearing and face to face with a wall built in a grid of washing machines. These were covered in blood and slime and other things that they seriously didn't want to know what they were.

To the side there was a separate washing line with seven bloodied white shirts hung up on it. As a group they inspected these shirts and found a dating card attached to each one with a person's picture, a quote and vital statistics on them. They found an eighth peg that had no shirt, and the quote on the card read 'there is only one key to my heart'.

"There is only one key to my heart." Skye said, looking at Ward, wondering if he understood it better.

Suddenly all of the washing machines sprung into life and started spinning very, very fast, making everyone jump.

Skye screamed and grabbed hold of Ward's hand.

The washing machines stopped as suddenly as they had started.

But most alarmingly, the gong went to indicate the gate was moving.

Ward looked at May and together they approached the washing machines. They climbed to the top row and opened them, stretching to reach the contents. Feeling clothes they pulled them out and threw them to the ground where Simmons and Skye could search through them for the key.

The smell was horrendous.

As Ward pulled the clothes out of one washer he ended up pulling a shirt out and covering himself in maggots. Taking a deep breath he emptied the washer.

May and Ward continued to empty them one by one until they got to the floor.

"There is no key!" Skye screamed, frustrated and panicky.

"Check the tag again." May ordered, searching through the pile of clothes, maggots and body parts.

Simmons went back to the tag that said 'there is only one key to my heart' and reread it.

"Wait. It says there is only one key _inside_ of my heart."

The four of them looked at each other before amending their search for an allusive heart.

"Gross! That's a liver!" Skye squealed as she picked up one of the body parts and promptly dropping it.

"I have it. I have the heart." yelled Ward.

"The key should be inside it." Simmons said.

Knowing that, as he found it, he would be the one who had to open it, Ward tore through the muscle and found the end of the key. Simmons pulled on it.

"We have the key!" She yelled, earning a crackle from the tannoy.

"Congratulations. You have, yet again, thwarted my test. You have a 57 metre head start. Choose wisely."

Knowing that they wasted time by not reading the card properly Ward and May looked at each other. They knew one of them should run. 57 meters was not very far. There was a good chance that they would get a better head start on the next challenge if they found all of the details before the gong.

"I guess it's my turn." Simmons was saying.

"Not necessarily. These two are looking at each other." Skye said to her.

"There is a good chance we get a better head start on the next task if we just read the clues properly, so Ward or I should run" May explained.

"You are out of time. Who is going to run against the dogs?"

"I am." May said before anyone could argue.

She would have let Ward go so he stood a chance of getting out of his still wet clothes, but she had seen Skye jump for his hand when she got scared. The only way to get her through this was for him to stay in the game, and as one of them needed to run this she would do it.

"Please follow the red arrows, the rest of you the black."


	10. Chapter 10

Simmons, Skye and Ward watched May's retreating back. Out of the corner of her eye Skye saw something moving in Ward's hair.

"Ward, bend over. You have maggots in your hair." She told him.

Ward bent over so she could brush them out.

"Anyone else starting to feel sick?" Skye asked as she picked a stubborn one out.

"It's a combination of the maggots and smell." Simmons said, wishing she had some oil to put under her nose.

"I haven't smelt anything quite like this in a while." Ward admitted, earning a shocked look of Skye.

"That's for another time. We better follow that arrow before we get gently persuaded" He continued leading the way.

* * *

May made it to the kennels without any incident. She approached her box and got out the item inside. She looked at it wondering what the hell it was before placing it in her backpack and fastening it securely.

She turned around and walked, head held high towards the gate.

* * *

Coulson heard the dogs barking and indicated to Fitz they they should climb. They knew Simmons was up next and they wanted to provide her with all of the support that they could while she was being chased by a pack of dogs.

They were incredibly surprised to see the gates so far back and to find May stood at the them ready to run.

"Release the hounds."

They watched as May started sprinting. She was fast, but the dogs were soon enough catching up to her. She was maybe 10 metres from the ladder when the first dog made to jump on her back, but May, sensing it leapt towards a branch of an overhanging tree, swung her body up and over it, out of the reach of the snapping dogs before letting go and landing cat like on the ladder.

"WHOOP!" cheered Coulson and Fitz; after all, they weren't sure that she was going to make it.

As she got to the top of the wall Coulson grasped one shoulder while Fitz grasped the other and together they pulled her onto the hay bales.

"That was far too close." She gasped, sinking into them.

* * *

Ward, Simmons and Skye were heading to their next challenge. They had followed the arrows back to the river and there was another two ropes spanning it. They had to cross it. This time they were at least 20 metres above it.

"It's a good job Fitz isn't here!" Simmons said as she looked down into the murky black water.

"We'd never get to the next challenge." Skye pointed out, making Ward laugh.

"How do we do this?" Simmons asked.

"Together. Skye first, then me then you." Ward told her. He wanted to be in the middle so that if either of them fell he would stand a chance of catching them.

Skye wiped the sweat off her hands before climbing onto the ropes. She climbed out a little way to allow for Ward and Simmons.

She felt the rope lower as Ward climbed onto it.

"Will this hold us?" She asked him.

"It should, but I guess we'll find out when we all get wet!"

Wrapping one hand around the top rope Ward helped Simmons climb onto the lower one. When he was satisfied that she was as secure as she could be he prompted Skye to go. She breathed a sigh of relief when the rope held all of them. They followed the path where the arrow pointed them to and came face to face with another creepy looking building.

"Why do they always have to look so creepy?" Skye asked.

"Because if they didn't then you wouldn't be so scared?" Ward suggested, which earned him a punch in the arm.

"Can we just get this over with?" Simmons asked.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Warning! This chapter could be slightly disturbing... It contains human body parts. If you scare easily or are of a sensitive disposition please feel free to scroll to the end.**

* * *

They walked through the door to the house and down a dark, slimy corridor. They walked out into a room that was lined with metal shelving. On the shelving were jars containing pickled heads.

"I hope to God those aren't real" Skye said, turning a little green.

Simmons walked over to the jars and picked one up.

"This one looks like my uncle." She said before placing it back on the shelf.

Ward however was interested in what looked like a fuse box/generator on the wall next to the door.

When they had all satisfied their curiosity they walked further into the room.

At the end of the room, strapped to the wall was what looked like a skinned human torso. It had flies buzzing all around it and the smell was worse than the previous test had been.

Skye had to look away otherwise she felt like she would be sick. A piece of paper on a desk next to it. She picked it up.

"Assemble the body parts on the wall. To do so the body parts must be hung out to dry. Look outside." She read off the paper.

"Great! More parts!" Ward said, coming over to Skye and reading the paper from over her shoulder.

Together they searched the room for the body parts and upon seeing that there was none and no place for them to hide the three of them walked back out of the door, heading back to the outside.

They made it down the corridor when something swung down in front of them, making Skye and Simmons scream. It even made Ward jump a little.

"It's an arm" he said, walking up to it to inspect it. It was skinless and in the same condition as the torso.

"That is so totally gross!" Skye said

"What do we have to do? Untie it?" Simmons asked, looking at Ward.

"I guess so." Ward answered, reaching up towards the rope. His fingers made quick work of the knot and soon they carried inside and Simmons attached it to the body.

"I'm going to assume the rest of the parts are all outside?" Skye asked, not really wanting an answer.

"Let's do this." Ward said, steeling himself for more body parts lunging for them.

The three of them made it back outside without any more parts appearing. They split up to search.

Suddenly a light came on illuminating all of the required body parts hanging in the trees. They were all skinless like the arm and covered in flies and maggots.

They walked over to them.

The gong went off.

Skye and Ward started untying the ropes holding the parts.

The first rope they untied decended a pigs foot.

"Not that one. We need Human parts." Simmons cried as Ward changed the rope and lowered another Arm.

Simmons ran the first part inside and attached it. Skye ran the second part in and gave it to Simmons who attached it.

With Ward the only one able to untie the ropes and Simmons being the expert about what body parts go where, Skye found herself, much to her disgust, being the one who was running between the two with the parts.

When Ward had only the head to release Skye waited indoors for him.

Ward came in carrying a head.

Simmons quickly and expertly reattached the head.

"What do we do now?" Skye asked as Ward reread the instructions.

"It says, pull lever to animate." He said.

Skye and Simmons searched the straps holding the body to the wall while Ward, having seen a lever earlier, went over to the device he had inspected earlier. He found the lever and pulled on it. Sparks flew making both Skye and Simmons scream in surprise.

They ran away from the body screaming harder when they saw its eyes open. They hid behind Ward and pushed him forward. Ward could see the body's mouth open and they key started appearing from it.

He raced the rest of the way to the body and pulled the key out of the mouth.

"I have it. I've got the key!" he shouted to their host.

It took a few seconds for the crackle of the tannoy to be apparent.

"Well done, _again_. I must make your challenges harder. You have a 79 metre head start. Choose wisely."

Ward handed the key to Simmons. 79 metres was about as good as they were going to get at this stage.

"I'm sorry. I'm going to have to go outside. This smell is really getting to me." Skye said, heading for the door.

Ward nodded after her and he and Simmons followed.

When they reached outside the tannoy crackled again.

"Who is it going to be?"

"Me." Simmons said with more confidence and conviction than she was feeling.

"Then follow the red arrow. The last two of you follow the black."

* * *

**A/N: The body parts aren't real – they are very good animated props. This task was taken out of the show.**


	12. Chapter 12

Ward gave Simmons an uncharacteristically big hug. He wanted to tell her to be careful and that she could do it through the hug.

He and Skye watched her leave. They could see her talking to herself as she left and realised she was formulating a plan.

Even though they had got her the best head start possible they were still worried.

Ward and Skye set off down their indicated path. They barely made it 500 metres when something swooped down and landed on Skye's head.

She screamed and started batting at her head sending her hair flying.

"Skye. It's ok. It was just a bat." Ward tried to tell her to calm her down, but she didn't hear him, so he grabbed hold of her wrists to stop her moving.

"It's gone." Ward reassured her when she finally looked at him.

Skye let out a whimper and threw herself into Ward, who held her tight, and sobbed.

"It's ok. I've got you." He reassured her, stroking her hair.

* * *

Simmons was walking down the path. She was convinced it was getting darker with every step that she took.

The scientist in her tried to reason that this couldn't possibly be true, but the trees had become thicker and more dense.

She suddenly heard movement in the bushes to her right and froze in her tracks.

"Don't panic. It's probably just a badger, or a fox, or a man eating hell hound. Don't be stupid Jemma, hell hounds don't eat men!" she said to herself.

The rustling got louder and louder until a black and white nose peeked out from underneath the bush. Simmons let out a long slow breath and watched as the badger scuttle into her path.

A dog howled in the distance making the badger run off.

This reminded Simmons of what was to come and she set off again.

It took her longer to reach the kennels than it did the others, but when she did she was overwhelmed by the sheer number of dogs there were. She walked over to the box with the number '4' on it and opened it. Feeling around the box she found what she was looking for, grasped her hand around it and placed it into her backpack.

* * *

Coulson heard the dogs barking again and indicated they should climb to the top.

"If it's Simmons I would rather not watch." Fitz said, turning the pieces of their escape over and over in his hands. He was trying to figure out how they all fit together.

Coulson and May climbed to the top of the hay bales and looked to see who was about to run and how much of a head start they had.

They realised it was Simmons pretty quickly, as they could see her tall, slender figure shaking violently as she approached the gate.

From where they were they could see she had a pretty good head start.

"Release the hounds."

The gate rose and Simmons set off running. She ran faster than Coulson thought she could, but the dogs were catching up to her.

"Come on Simmons!" Coulson yelled.

"You're nearly there!" May shouted at her.

"Go! Go! Go! Go!" Coulson started repeating over and over again, willing Simmons to pick up her pace.

She was gaining on the ladder. She was not going to make it.

May and Coulson looked at each other before May climbed back over the wall and, holding onto the ladder, she held one arm out for Simmons to grab onto. The second May's hand closed around her arm she pulled her clear of the dogs. May made sure Simmons had hold of the ladder before jumping back over the wall to Coulson. Simmons appeared to have frozen on the ladder.

"Fitz. Do you want to help here?" May asked, realising that he would be the only one able to talk her into moving.


	13. Chapter 13

"Come on Simmons. You can't stay there. Skye is going to need that ladder soon and she will get eaten if you don't move." Fitz told her.

Realising that Fitz was right Simmons climbed the ladder. She was shaking badly but she made it to the top, swung her legs over and placed her feet on the hay bales. May and Coulson helped her down the 'stairs' while Fitz went back to work on the device.

When Simmons reached the bottom she fainted.

* * *

Ward and Skye walked down the path towards their next challenge.

An owl hooted in the distance making Skye jump. In the five minutes since the incident with the bat she felt like her nerves were overloaded, and as a result, every noise made her jump. She reached for Ward's hand for, what felt like, the millionth time that night.

He squeezed her hand in reassurance and they continued down the path holding hands.

Skye felt her fears leaving her and something else replace them.

Excitement.

They came to a clearing with a bench and a Punch and Judy stand. Looking at each other they sat down and waited for the show to start.

The curtains were drawn back and a story of their situation was played out using puppets, The background was of black trees with bright red balloons. It showed the team completing challenges and then outrunning the dogs, slowly dwindling in numbers until the puppets depicted the two of them sat on the bench. Then it showed them a bunch of balloons that the puppets then popped, before another puppet with a chainsaw appeared before it cut their puppets to pieces.

The curtains dropped and at the same time a clown wielding a chainsaw burst out of base of the puppet show straight at them.

Skye screamed and flew off the bench.

"Woah!" Ward yelled at the same time as Skye's scream. He jumped off the bench, pulled Skye by the hand and ran back into the woods.

When they had got their breathing and heart rates under control they cautiously edged their way back into the clearing. The clown had gone, but a bunch of bright red balloons had been lit high in another copse of trees, behind the Punch and Judy stand.

They made their way over to them and looked up.

"Pop them you idiot" The commentator from the puppet show said.

Ward looked around and found a knife attached to a piece of wood.. He picked it up and walked over to the balloons and tried to pop them, but he couldn't reach.

The gong went.

Ward knelt down so Skye could sit on his shoulders so that they could pop the balloons. As she did, slime, dust and blood poured onto their heads.

Skye quickly popped all of the balloons and the area went dark. Ward felt her grip on his head tighten.

Suddenly more red balloons appeared in a tree nearby. Ward, thinking it would be quicker to move with Skye still on his shoulders, than allowing Skye to get off his shoulders, them both making their way over and her having to climb back onto him, set off towards the balloons.

When they got there they quickly realised that the extra height was useless. The balloons were far too high. They had been provided with darts to pop them though.

Skye scrambled off Ward's shoulders and they both picked up the darts. As Ward hit a balloon with every shot (he does have off the charts hand/eye coordination after all) more white powder and slime fell on their heads. Skye was not doing very well hitting the balloons and was now scrabbling around the floor for landed darts.

Once all of the balloons had been popped the light went out again, only to reappear a little way out on a rather gigantic lone balloon on the floor.

They raced over to it and Skye popped it with the dart still in her hand. As it popped Ward had time to register the chainsaw carrying clown and pulled a screaming Skye out of the way before she lost a limb. The lights flickered and the clown was gone.

There was one small solitary red balloon left in the middle, which Ward stood on, revealing the key.

"That one scared you didn't it? You have 45 metres. You know the drill."


	14. Chapter 14

"This choice is yours Skye." Ward told her as they had to quickly decide which of them was to run.

"I don't want to stay in here, but you stand the better chance against the dogs at 45 metres." She told him.

"I will run or I will continue. I don't mind either way." Ward repeated. He didn't particularly want Skye to run against the dogs from the distance they earned, but he didn't want to force her to stay either.

The tannoy crackled again.

"Who is going to go, and who is going to stay?"

"He's going, I'm staying." Skye said before she changed her mind, or before he could change it for her.

"Very well. Runner follow red, player follow black."

"You can do this. You just need to stay strong." Ward told her, placing his hand on her pale cheek.

"I know. I think I just need to breathe." Skye whispered, revelling in the feeling of Ward's hand on her cheek.

"Just remember one thing." Ward said to her, rubbing her check with his thumb.

"What's that?" She asked, raising her hand to cover his.

"I have faith in you." Ward told her, before moving his lips to hers and kissing her like she had never been kissed before.

He pulled away from Skye and dropped his hand from her cheek as he turned and walked away into the night.

Skye touched her lips. She could still feel the ghost of his lips on hers.

* * *

Ward walked his senses on hyper alert. He didn't know what made him kiss Skye, but he did know that even though they were in the middle of this crazy, alarming game, he enjoyed it.

The thought of Skye and the feel of her lips clouded his mind as he made his way to the kennels.

The sound of the dogs barking brought Ward back to his senses. He walked over to the box labelled '5', turned the key, got the backpack off his back and made to put the piece of their puzzle in it when he noticed the dog near him tracking the bag with its eyes.

Instead of placing the bag back on his back he gripped it in his left hand and walked confidently to the gate.

* * *

The dogs started barking again, so Coulson and May climbed to the top to help Skye get over the wall.

Simmons stayed at the bottom of the hay stairs to help Fitz put together their exit weapon.

"Why is Ward running? Where's Skye?" Coulson asked when he saw Ward approaching the gate.

"Probably the same reason I ran when I did. The gate is too far back for Skye to outrun the dogs. Ward stands a better chance."

"But he's left her on her own!" Coulson cried in outrage.

"She's a big girl. Besides, he taught her well, she'll be fine." May told him, trying to calm him down by placing a hand on his arm.

"If she gets hurt I will _kill_ him."

"She'll be fine."

"Release the hounds."

The gate rose and Ward set of sprinting. They saw him getting clearer and the dogs getting closer to him. They saw the red backpack fly out of his hand and land on the floor, which the dogs then pounced on, earning Ward a few more seconds to gain an advantage.

He hurtled towards the ladder, the dogs soon back on his tail. May saw the exact path Ward was about to take, so she grabbed Coulson and forced him to duck as Ward almost leaped up the ladder and forward dived over the wall, fully intending to land on his feet, not realising there was a stack of hay bales forming stairs and promptly fell down each and every one of them landing on the floor, on his front, with a thump.

"Owww!" Ward groaned, turning himself over, but remaining on the floor.

"You lost the bag." May pointed out.

"Yeah." Ward admitted, trying to get his breath back.

"You lost the bag." She repeated.

"I did."

"Wait. You lost the bag? HOW DID YOU LOSE THE BAG?" Fitz shouted.

"Dogs. They're trained to go for the bag. By tossing it I bought myself a couple of seconds." Ward told him, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the item he took from the box.


	15. Chapter 15

Skye walked down the path towards the final challenge, head full of that kiss.

"Was it to calm me down? Did it mean anything?" Skye wondered as she put one foot in front of the other.

A ringing phone brought her out of her senses. She looked around for it and found a lit phone box.

Cautiously she walked into the phone box and answered the phone.

"Hello?" Skye asked.

"Help me." A meek female voice said in response.

"I can help you, what do you need?"

The door to the phone booth slammed shut behind her, making Skye jump. Out of the corner of her eye Skye saw a small girl wearing a red coat holding a telephone.

"Help me." She said into the phone.

Skye screamed in shock.

"What do you want from me?" she asked down the phone.

The light went off and when it came back on the girl was stood closer to the phone box, making Skye jump again.

"What do you want from me?" Skye shouted at the girl.

She stayed quiet. Skye noticed something wet covering her hand and looked down.

There was water pouring out of the microphone of the phone.

"Oh my God!" Skye screamed as the water climbed slowly up her legs.

The girl walked closer to Skye and the phone booth and took out a marker pen.

The gong sounded as the girl took the pen to the window and started writing a series of numbers.

"What are you doing?" Skye yelled as the girl started her second line of numbers.

"Wait a second, numbers, phone box." Skye realised and she started typing the numbers into the phone.

"The number dialled cannot be recognised" The receiver kept telling her as she dialled.

When the girl finished writing the numbers on the door she disappeared, leaving Skye in a half full phone booth of water.

Skye kept typing the numbers into the phone. The water was rising rapidly so she now had to duck her head under to read the remaining numbers. She entered the last number and there was a loud bang and the door behind her blew out, allowing the water and more importantly Skye to get out of the phone booth.

Looking around her Skye wondered where the girl went and where the key was located.

A light suddenly shone in some nearby trees and Skye ran over to it. She saw the hooded cape the girl was wearing on the floor and picked it up. Something heavy fell out of it.

Skye bent down to see what it was and upon realising it was the key picked it up.

"I've got it!" Skye shouted, relieved.

"Congratulations. You did it and all on your own too. You may be happy to know that you have earned an 81 metre head start. Follow the arrows."

"81 metres. I think I can live with that."

Skye set off to follow the arrows. She was proud of herself. She hadn't panicked and had earned the best head start they had earned all night. Yet again she could feel Ward's touch on her face and his lips pressing to hers.

"I believe in you"

His words were ringing around her head.

Skye suddenly felt weak around the knees and found herself having to stop and sit for a minute.

Pushing fantasies of Ward to one side, Skye got back to her feet and set off towards the kennels. As she got closer she could hear the dogs barking and she started to shake. She crept towards the only unopened box and opened it. She picked out the final piece of the puzzle and put it in her backpack.

Turning around she slowly walked towards the gate. She was shaking, she now felt weak and tired and she could still smell those body parts on her.

She looked at the wall and saw Coulson, May and Ward ready to cheer her on.

She smiled to herself as she saw the hay stuck to Ward.


	16. Chapter 16

Now that he had stopped moving Ward had started shivering violently. He objected to all motions of his teams donated clothing, but May and Coulson realised that he would be very ill if he didn't stop shivering soon.

"Wrap him in hay" Simmons suggested, knowing hay held heat and was a good insulator.

May's attempts to cover Ward in hay to keep him warm turned into a fast and frienzied hay fight, while Fitz-Simmons worked on their escape.

May was happy that the hay was sticking to Ward due to all of the slime he was covered in. At least it would help heat him up.

They all heard the gong and May, Ward and Coulson all climbed rapidly to the top of the wall. They wanted to see how much of a head start Skye had earned. They were all relieved when the gate stopped at a reasonable distance. They stayed where they were so they could help her over the wall.

"I wonder what she had to do?" Coulson pondered aloud.

"Can't have been that tough." May said.

"Wanna bet?" Ward interjected, sticking up for Skye. He knew how scared she had been since the start of the game.

"This is Skye we are talking about." May argued.

"She's a lot tougher than she seems." Ward argued back.

The barking of the dogs stopped the argument before it really began and focussed their attention on Skye.

"I am going to make her get rid of those sandals." May said, remembering Skye's footwear issues.

"You'll have to beat me to it." Ward told her.

May shoved him to the side.

"Ewww. Gross! What _is_ that?" May asked him, pulling a handful of slime away from his body.

"I don't think you want to know." Ward replied, grinning at her.

"Release the hounds"

Ward jumped over the wall and landed solidly on the floor. He positioned himself so Skye could run straight at him and he could hoist her up to Coulson and May before he climbed the ladder to get them out of there.

Skye sprinted. She was feeling free. Well, as free as you could be being chased by a pack of dogs. She was suddenly very glad Ward continually put her through her paces and made her the fittest she had ever been in her life.

She saw Ward at the bottom of the brick wall and knew what she had to do. She could hear Coulson and May cheering her on, but she only had eyes for Ward, and he for her.

She ran straight at him and launched herself into his linked hands. It was a move they had been working on for a few weeks so she knew precisely what angle to hit him at.

Once her foot was in his hands he pushed and Skye outstretched her arms. Coulson and May grabbed a hand each and pulled.

The second Ward felt the weight in his hands release he was climbing up the ladder. The dogs only just got a snap at his heels before he was, yet again out of their reach.

Knowing what was coming this time Ward carefully climbed over the wall while Coulson and May pulled Skye to her feet after dragging her over it.

The four of them made their way down to Fitz and Simmons and Skye handed over the final piece of the puzzle. She then walked over to the side of the cage where she would be hidden by a hay bale and vomited.

Once Fitz had been given the final piece everything seemed to then fit together. It was a specially designed blowtorch that could be dismantled when it was required. The only problem was:

They had no gas.


	17. Chapter 17

"There has to be some gas _somewhere_" Coulson said, exasperation clear.

"We've looked everywhere. There is none." May said.

"We didn't look under all the hay?" Ward suggested, pulling a piece of hay off his ear. It had been irritating him for a while.

"This is true." Skye pointed out. She was slightly upset she had missed out on an opportunity to throw hay at Ward and get away with it.

"Let's look under the hay then." Coulson ordered.

Slowly Ward and May climbed to the top of the hay bale staircase and started throwing bale after bale of hay down towards the others. Coulson, Skye, Simmons and Fitz then stacked them on the other side of the cage.

The staircase slowly diminished until there were only two levels left. Ward and May jumped off the top of it and everyone grabbed a bale and put it with the others.

They found no gas, but they did find a cog wheel mechanism.

"It could run the gates." Fitz said fascinated as he began to prod and poke it.

Coulson was inspecting their useless blow torch. He pressed on a button on the side.

"Fitz. Are you sure you've put this together right?" he asked the rocket scientist.

"Yes. Why?"

"Just, I don't remember seeing a button like this on a one before."

Fitz grabbed the blowtorch out of Coulson hands and inspected the button.

"I don't see how else the parts would go together, but you're right. This button is out of place." Fitz admitted.

"Why don't we take it to pieces and put it back together?" Simmons suggested.

Fitz looked at her like he wanted to kill her, but relented when he realised that they really had no other options.

While Fitz and Simmons worked on disassembling and reassembling the parts they had acquired when outrunning the dogs, Coulson and May went to investigate the cog mechanism further, while Skye pulled Ward off to the stack of hay bales.

"That was some kiss" Skye said in a low voice, as she threw a handful of hay at Ward.

"Don't get used to it." Ward warned her with a glint in his eye and playfully throwing a handful back.

"What if I want to?" Skye asked as seductively as she could without making it obvious to the others.

Ward paused; the realisation of what Skye was implying taking a few moments to sink in. She took the opportunity to throw some more hay at him.

In retaliation, Ward grabbed the biggest armful of hay he could muster and chased her. When he caught her, he pinned her to the floor and stuffed the hay everywhere he could reach: her hair, her sandles, down the back of her wet t-shirt...

That's when his hand felt something hard and cold against his hand.

* * *

"Hey May. Take a look at this!" Coulson said, jumping down into the cog mechanism.

"What?" May asked, jumping down beside him.

"I think there's a piece missing." Coulson told her

"It runs the gate. How can there be a piece missing?" May asked. She was confused.

"See. There. It looks like something should be there but it isn't!" Coulson repeated, pointing to where he was meaning

"Yeah. I see it. What do you think goes in there?"

May and Coulson were distracted at that point by squeals coming from Skye and they watched as Ward playfully forced her to the floor and started attacking her with hay.

Coulson shook his head as they watched.

"Ward has a playful side. Who knew?" May said, shocked. She had never seen this side of Ward before.

They watched as Ward stopped forcing hay down Skye's top and his expression changed back to a serious one. They saw him brush his hand against something in the hay.

* * *

"It's no good. All we have is the pieces of a blowtorch and no gas!" Fitz cried frustrated as he and Simmons, yet again, assembled a blow torch which had no gas.

"There has to be something. It all has to do with that button!" Simmons soothed, trying to get Fitz to focus.

"All the parts we have make up this blowtorch. There is nothing else!" Fitz cried again, throwing it to the ground.

"Let's start again." Simmons suggested.

They heard squeals as Ward decked Skye and watched them play fight. Simmons hoped that the distraction would be what Fitz needed to solve this puzzle.

They watched as Skye whimpered helplessly as Ward attacked her with hay. They also watched his stance and behaviour change. They watched him withdraw his hand from the hay and pull out a shiny metal cylinder from the bale of hay.


	18. Chapter 18

Fitz bounded over to Ward and took the cylinder out of his hand. He was quickly disappointed when he realised it wasn't gas to fuel the blow torch. It was another part to their escape route.

Ward realised this too and got to his feet. Looking at Fitz they made they was over to the hay bales and systematically started to scatter them everywhere, covering everyone with hay. To everyone's amusement Coulson started sneezing!

As the hay bales disintegrated around them they found more and more pieces of their puzzle, until the last one had been scattered.

Fitz, who was now happy that they had more parts, inspected the missing piece of the cog mechanism and then set to putting the pieces together.

Ward and Skye, who were both still wet through and shivering, were trying to keep themselves warm by playing 'tag'. Skye was losing. Badly!

May and Coulson were sat off to one side.

"Whose idea was it to investigate these disappearances?" Coulson asked.

"That would be yours!" May responded.

"Oh yeah. Well from now on, we don't investigate any more woodland disappearances."

"Or if we do we take out the psycho behind it first."

"Do you think there is anything going on between Skye and Ward?" Coulson asked May out of the blue.

"Duh! You took your time to cotton on." May thought, but when she opened her mouth she said:

"Not really. Why do you think that?"

"Well you said it yourself..." Coulson started saying, taking a quick look at May's alarmed face as he continued "...he's letting his playful side show when he's with her. And I'm guessing I'm not the only one who noticed that she kept going for his hand when she got scared."

"Ok. So I noticed. I also noticed that Fitz and Simmons were clinging onto each other pretty much the entire time they were in there together. Does that mean that there is something going on between them?" May asked him. She wasn't sure why she was defending Ward and Skye, other than she wanted to see how much Skye would change him.

"Of course not! It's just Ward is completely different around Skye than he is with the others. And you chose to run when you did for a reason." Coulson pressed.

Shouts from Fitz saved May from having to answer. It turns out that, with the additional parts that they had located in the hay the pieces fit together in another way.

"Don't ask me what it does or how it works. But this is _the _only way they all go together." Fitz told Coulson handing him the item.

Coulson looked at it, scrutinising it from every angle before walking over to the cog mechanism and inserting it into the slot. The item fit perfectly. The cogs started turning and the cage moved slightly before they came to a stop.

A cage door slammed down from the night sky and landed between them and the wall, closing them in completely.

"Damn." Coulson said, realising that he had led his team into a trap.

* * *

**A/N: Hands up! Who thought Ward had found the gas to the blow torch?**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: I'm sorry about the delay in updating. I've been poorly all week with food poisoning and writing has been kinda difficult!**

**I also need a proof reader for a personal project – pm me if you are interested.**

**Anyway... here's the update...**

* * *

The cage shook again and started to move, scraping along away from the wall. They all ran over to the front of the cage to try and figure out what was going on. As they searched they had no choice but to move to keep up to their cage.

They could see no way out of it.

"Do you think it's to lead us to our death?" Fitz asked.

"It's certainly leading us somewhere." Coulson pointed out.

He was worried that the cage was indeed forcing them to walk to their deaths. They walked an unfamiliar path, tripping occasionally on hidden tree roots. They had given up trying to see where they were going and were now checking the rest of the cage for an exit.

"Erm... guys. You might want to hold on!" They heard Ward shout from the front.

"What's going on?" Coulson asked, racing to his side. "Everyone. Hold onto the side. NOW!"

There was a mad scramble as the six of them placed their hands and feet in the square holes of the cage.

"Whatever you do. Don't. Look. Down!" Ward teased.

The floor of the cage suddenly disappeared as it crossed the top of a ravine.

"Why don't we try and climb to the outside?" Skye suggested.

"I don't think I could!" Simmons cried as she looked down.

"We're halfway across." May said, just as the cage stopped in midair.

"What's happening?" Fitz asked panicking.

"I don't know. But it can't be good!"

The cage lurched violently, almost dislodging Simmons. Ward saw her let go and keeping a tight grip on the cage with one hand, he caught Simmons with the other.

"You alright?" he asked as she regained her grip on the cage.

All Simmons could do was nod.

"Wait a second. Are we moving _down_?" Skye asked, feeling the cage move.

"Why are we moving DOWN?" Fitz shrieked, realising Skye was right.

"Everyone to the outside!" Coulson ordered.

Ward, May and Coulson all scrambled down before helping Skye, Fitz and Simmons to the outside.

The cage suddenly stopped, swinging for a moment or two, before slowly and painstakingly gaining height. When it reached the top of the ravine it continued on its way through the woods.

"Can't we jump?" Simmons asked.

Ward tried to put his foot on the ground and encountered two problems: the ground around them was that boggy it was like quicksand and the cage was picking up speed.

As the cage sped up Coulson realised they were headed downhill. He could hear Skye laughing next to him as the wind blew her hair about.

"I don't like this! I don't like this at all!" Simmons was repeating over and over again to no one in particular.

Only Fitz could hear her and, despite his panic, vowed to take Simmons onto a roller coaster.

"We're slowing." May called over the wind so that everyone could hear her.

"Ground's still too bad to jump!" Ward told them, retesting it with his foot.

The ground levelled out and so did the cage. They travelled for another 100 metres before the cage came to a stop.

"Oh Hell no!" Skye said as she saw what they had to do next.


	20. Chapter 20

The cage set off and they were now approaching a wall with a hole in it.

The hole only appeared big enough for the cage to pass through.

"MOVE!" Coulson shouted.

Everyone raced as fast as they could to the back of the cage. If they were on the sides or on the top they would be scraped off the cage by the wall and would land in the oozing sucking mud..

Ward made it first, followed by May, Skye, Coulson and Fitz.

"Simmons! Come on. You have to move!"

They were 50 metres from the wall

"I can't! I can't do it.!" She replied. She had frozen on the side of the cage.

25 metres.

10 metres.

Ward scrambled to the side of the cage and grabbed hold of Simmons.

5 metres.

He pulled her to safety just as the cage scraped against the wall. The resulting jolt almost dislodging everyone.

"Everyone ok?" May called as she tightened her grip on the cage.

"Yeah!" Fitz shouted.

"Talk about white knuckle rides!" Skye whooped. She was terrified of falling off, but for some reason she couldn't work out, was enjoying the ride.

"I'm ok." Coulson confirmed.

"We're good!" Ward told her, indicating himself and Simmons. He made sure she had a good hold on the cage before letting go of her.

The cage carried on its journey.

"Hey! We're slowing down!" Fitz called brightly.

Coulson tried to get off the cage, but the ground was still a quagmire.

"Doesn't mean we can get off the damn thing though!" he confirmed.

"We must be going uphill." Simmons told them. It was the only other reason she could think of for the cage to be slowing.

"It's got to end soon. Doesn't it?" Fitz asked.

"My hands are going numb!" Skye moaned.

"We need to be prepared for another change in direction." Ward warned them.

"Why do you say that?" Coulson asked.

"There is some sort of webbing above us."

Skye, May, Fitz and Coulson all looked up into the air.

"I don't see anything!" Fitz said.

"Neither do I!" Coulson said.

"It's there alright." May confirmed catching a glint of metal in the sky.

"You sure?" Coulson asked.

"Absolutely."

"Guys. My feet are starting to get wet!" Skye told them.

Taking their eyes off the sky everyone looked down to find they were entering the river. Skye scrambled up a few more rows of the cage. As they got further into the river they noticed, instead of gliding across the top at the depth they had just been, the water level was rising forcing them all to climb higher up.

They got halfway across the river and the cage stopped.

They heard multiple grinding and clanking noises and they felt the cage judder again. To their horror the cage started to move UP!

Ward pushed Simmons onto the top of the cage and climbed on the top himself. May, Skye, Coulson and Fitz took his lead and followed.

Ward and May kept an eye on the webbing. They were getting closer and closer to it. As the two metals connected a small surge of electricity passed through them all at the same time sparks flew making Skye and Simmons scream.

"That was a stroke of genius Ward." Coulson said.

He was sure if they were forced to hold on inside the cage they would have all landed in the river.

"Sometimes I have smart ideas."

The cage continued to move, except now it was moving diagonally up. They all managed to relax a little and rub the cramp that was starting to form in their hands from holding on for so long. They could also move around and stretch.

They were guided through the air for what felt like an hour before a building loomed on the horizon.

"Great. Another creepy building!" Fitz moaned.


	21. Chapter 21

They got closer and closer to the house. As they did they realised that it was more of a stately home. Ward, now that they had all stopped moving, was starting to shiver again, so he got up to walk around on the top of the cage.

"Can you please stop doing that?" Simmons asked as Ward's movements started to swing the cage.

"Sorry." Ward replied heading to the centre of the cage where he could swing his arms without swinging the cage.

"What floor do you think we're gonna hit?" Skye asked.

"I think we are going to land on the roof." May told them.

"Why do you think that?" Simmons asked, not quite keeping the fear out of her voice.

"It would waste a creepy house if we didn't have to walk through it."

"I hate creepy houses." Fitz muttered.

"We know!" May told him. She was starting to lose her patience with this entire game.

The cage started levelling out and, just as May predicted, headed for the uppermost floor of the house. The cage slowed down to a crawl and inched ever closer to the wall of the house. It stopped with a bump causing Ward to lose his footing. His foot dropped through the square hole up to his knee where it then got stuck.

Everyone else escaped this embarrassment as they were sat down.

Skye and May laughed at the comedy effect of it all while Coulson and Fitz helped Ward free his leg.

Simmons was waiting to pounce on him to check for injuries.

"I'm fine people!" Ward announced as his foot came free. His face was flushed as he rolled himself off the cage and onto the roof before getting to his feet and helping the others from the cage to the roof.

"Which way?" Ward asked looking from one side of the roof to the other.

As if someone could hear him a brightly illuminated arrow appeared above one of the towers.

"I have a feeling we are now safe from the dogs, but I don't want to find out what happens if we now choose to delay" May told them.

"Me either, let's go." Coulson agreed.

May and Coulson led the group toward the tower keeping Fitz and Simmons in the middle and having Skye and Ward bring up the rear. They headed down a dark spiral staircase inside the tower ,and reached a rotting oak door at the bottom. Cautiously May opened it and sneaked a peak up and down the corridor. Seeing nothing she ventured out and waited. When nothing happened she beckoned Coulson and the others to join her. She could see that Ward and Skye were holding hands and filed it away in her mind for later.

The house was that quiet, dark and draughty that they all dropped their voices to a whisper and tried to make as little sound as possible.

"Which way now?" Coulson asked looking around.

There was a door at either end of the corridor. Coulson noticed May nodding to each door in turn and he imagined she was saying "eenie meany miny mo" in her head. He also noticed Ward had shuffled over to the wall and was now investigating the wall with his hands. Coulson was worried about him. They had all had a rough time in the game, but, judging by the state of him Ward had probably suffered the worst.

"Gotcha!" he heard Ward whisper in glee as he pressed a panel in the wall and a secret door opened revealing another staircase.

"How the hell did you know that was there?" Coulson asked him in disbelief.

"Old house. No arrows. Means we have to carry on in the same direction." Ward replied.

He stepped back and allowed a stunned May to pull ahead. She aimed a soft elbow to his gut as she passed him. Once everyone was on the staircase Ward followed and the door shut behind him, plunging them into complete darkness.

"Hey, wait. I've just remembered." Fitz said.

Ward could hear him routing through his pockets and suddenly a piercing light blinded them all.

"You've had a torch this entire time and you didn't think it would be useful?" Simmons scolded him.

Fitz passed the torch to May who continued down the stairs.

At the bottom she came up against the back of something. She pressed on it gently and it gave way in her hands.

"There's a tapestry at the bottom." She warned the others. She knew the feeling of the fabric may unnerve some of them if they weren't prepared for it.

One by one they left the stairway and joined May in a small, comfortably lit and decorated room. There was a bright arrow painted over one of the doors.

"I guess we go this way." Coulson said, taking over the lead from May, who had turned the torch off as their way was now lit.

Coulson followed the arrows and they came to a drawing room.

The team gathered around Coulson and looked towards the glaring warmth of the log fire burning in it's hearth.

"Welcome. I hope you enjoyed my game." They heard their host say, except this was a real voice, not one over a tannoy.

The chair spun around and a small, squat, balding man got out of it.

"I honestly didn't expect you to make it. No one ever does."

"No. They usually fall out the bottom of your cage trap." Ward quipped.

Coulson however had lost what little patience he had remaining. He walked straight up to him and hit him so hard in the nose that their host crumpled straight to the floor.

"Let's get this piece of filth back to the 'bus to play _our _game." He said to May and Ward who immediately looked for something to restrain him with.

"Here. Try this." Ward said as he handed May a curtain tie back.

"Where are you going?" she shouted after his retreating back.

"To find our weapons." He shouted back from the next room.

* * *

**A/N: The next chapter is going to be the last chapter on this Fic... They are going to be back on the bus comparing stories (Only Skye knows every challenge) and dealing with certain 'traumas'...**


	22. Chapter 22

"So what happened to you guys after I left you?"

"We went to the first creepy house and were hit with multiple electric shocks. We eventually realised that there were pictures showing us where the key was." Fitz told him, putting emphasis on the creepy house.

"It wasn't that creepy." May told him.

"It totally was." Fitz objected.

"They got worse Fitz." Skye told him making Fitz shudder.

"What happened after that that forced May to run not Simmons?" Coulson asked. He wanted to know what went wrong.

"We misread the clue." Ward admitted.

"What happened?"

"Lots of washing machines filled with things I'm sure you'd rather not know about, but we had to climb to get into some of them."

"So you had to find the key in the washer?"

"No we had to find a heart. The key was in the heart."

"Which you didn't realise so you wasted time by looking for the wrong thing?" Coulson asked them, starting to catch on.

"Yeah."

"We got to the _really_ creepy house and had to reassemble a human body." Skye told them in a quiet voice.

"You had to do _what_?" Fitz asked, choking on his beer.

"We had to find body parts and reassemble the body." Simmons told him as if she did it all the time.

"Where was the key?" May asked.

"In his mouth. These two screamed and practically ran out of the room when it started moving." Ward told them, indicating to Simmons and Skye.

"I don't blame them!" Fitz said turning green.

"So that's why you got such a good head start." Coulson said, realising that reassembling body parts would have been Simmons speciality.

"Yeah. I was still fearing for my life!" Simmons said remembering how she felt when the dogs were chasing her.

"What took you guys so long on the next one then?" May asked.

She had wondered what took Ward and Skye so long to complete the next challenge. She realised that so far none of them had been overly challenging, the fear of what they were facing being the only thing slowing them down.

"Chainsaw wielding clown." Ward told her, taking a sip of his coffee.

"A what?" Coulson asked him, thinking he hadn't quite heard him right.

"We got to a puppet show and it showed us a story of what had happened to us leading to that point. It showed us popping balloons and when they were popped a clown with a chainsaw came up behind us in the show. Then the lights went off and a clown with a chainsaw burst out of the show and actually chased us. We got back into the woods and when we turned around it was gone." Skye told them.

"What did you have to do?" Fitz asked curiously.

"Pop a crap load of balloons."

"That doesn't sound too hard?" May pointed out, not quite seeing what had taken them so long.

"I had to pick Skye up to pop one set; the second were done using darts." Ward told them

"With your hand – eye coordination that shouldn't have been a problem." Coulson pointed out. He also didn't seem to get why it had taken them so long.

"The balloons were spread out in the trees and were full of all sorts of things making it a little difficult to see and the bell went before we even made it to the first set. We popped both sets of balloons and there was a massive one on the ground. I popped it with a dart and Ward pulled me away before I lost a limb." Skye explained.

"The clown was in the balloon." Ward elaborated when he saw everyone's blank expressions.

"Yeah, then the lights went off and when they came back on the clown had gone and there was one more balloon to pop and that's when we got the key!"

"So you lost ground because you had to evade a chainsaw wielding clown?" May asked with a snort of laughter.

"Basically, yeah." Ward admitted.

"Who made the call to let Skye complete the last one alone?" Coulson asked, glaring at Ward.

"I did." Skye said "I knew I couldn't outrun the dogs from that distance, so I took the gamble and chose to continue."

"What did you have to do? By the time you got to us you were soaked." Ward asked her, pulling his mug into his chest for warmth.

"I had to answer the phone. It was a girl asking for help. The door slammed behind me and water started filling up the phone booth. Next thing I know there's a scary looking girl looking straight at me. There was a noise in the woods so I turned to look."

"That was a stupid mistake. When there's a scary girl and a noise – you keep looking at the girl. Did you not learn anything from our horror movie marathon?" Fitz scolded her.

"I realise that _now_. When I turned back she was right outside the booth and was writing a number on it. Didn't take me long to figure out I had to type it into the phone. The booth blew out when I finished and a light came on in the woods. It was the girls' coat. When I picked it up the key was under it." Skye finished.

"And then we all know the rest of it." Coulson said.

He had been interested in what him team had gone through. He was proud that, even though he had given them a set running order to follow, they had thought about it as a team and had actually adapted the plan to suit the situation.

He was more impressed that they had all come out of it unscathed, well most of them. He noticed Ward was looking a little worse for wear.

Slowly, the team went their separate ways. May went to lay down some mats and do some late night Tai Chi to try and relax her body and Fitz and Simmons went to the lab, still discussing the adventure they had. Fitz wanted to know more details about the washing machines and human body situations. He was trying to figure out how the dead, rotting corpse spat out a key.

"Ward. Are you alright?" Coulson asked him.

"I'll be fine." Ward replied.

"You seem to have had a rougher time than anyone out there. How come?"

"I got wet. When were being shocked the water made it worse."

"Of course. And then there was the body parts, looking after the girls."

"And the slime, maggots, weird white powder and blood."

Coulson looked at him like he was crazy.

"Don't forget ripping body parts open to find the key." Skye prompted him.

"That too! When May and I opened the washing machines they were full of the slime, body parts and maggots. The balloons had the blood." Ward explained.

Coulson nodded his understanding and went to his office to video conference Director Fury.

Ward got up, walked into the kitchen and placed his coffee mug in the sink. He would clean it in the morning. He felt a presence behind him.

"What's up Skye?"

"Do you want to know how I stayed so calm in that booth when my impulse was to freak out?" she asked him.

"I have a pretty good idea, but why don't you tell me anyway." Ward replied, turning to face her and leaning on the counter behind him.

"It was you. What you said to me before you left." Skye told him, closing the gap between them.

"Really? I spoke words of wisdom? Who knew?" Ward jested.

"That kiss helped." Skye whispered.

She was now so close to him that he could smell the shampoo from her freshly washed hair.

Before he knew what was happening Skye placed her lips on his and he found himself responding, snaking his hand around her back and pulling her closer. She parted her lips and allowed him to sweep his tongue across her teeth.

* * *

Coulson watched the cameras with a smile. He could see that something had happened between the two of them when they were alone in the woods, even if no one else had.

He had known it when Skye admitted she kept a clear head in the phone booth and why else would they have been so playful with each other in the cage?

* * *

**A/N: We have come to the end of Release the Hounds! I do hope you have enjoyed it! I have another completely AU one called "Undomestic Goddess" planned soon so watch this space!**


End file.
